נאָך פּרטים

The Reflexive Pronoun זיך

The object pronoun זיך is reflexive, that is, it and the subject of the sentence refer to the same person or thing.

The reflexive meaning of זיך can clearly be seen by comparing the sentences above with similar sentences whose subject and object are not coreferential.

The pronoun זיך is invariant: it does not change according to person or number.

Verbs with זיך

When you use a Yiddish dictionary, you will notice that some verbs are listed together with זיך, and some verbs both with and without זיך. This is because some verbs always come with זיך and others come with זיך when they have a certain meaning. From now on, the YiddishPOP vocabulary sections will note when a verb comes with זיך.

In the current lesson we are learning three verbs with זיך:

All three can also come without זיך, and זיך adds a reflexive meaning to all three (as can be seen above with זעצן and היטן).

However, זיך does not always indicate a reflexive meaning. For example:

• With a plural subject, זיך can indicate reciprocity:

More information about various functions of the pronoun זיך can be found in ‏6.5 נאָך פּרטים and Mordkhe Schaechter’s Yiddish II, pp. 79–82.

אין שטוב vs. אין דער הײם

In lesson 3.5 we learned the phrase אין שטוב and in this lesson we are learning the phrase אין דער הײם. The two phrases are often synonymous – but not always.

אין דער הײם has a more limited meaning. The phrase refers only to one’s home, one’s dwelling place. When Nomi says that she is אין דער הײם, it is clear that she is in the apartment where she lives with her family.

אין שטוב has a broader meaning. אין שטוב is a synonym of אין דער הײם when the context shows that it refers to one’s dwelling place. However, a שטוב is not just a dwelling place, but can be any house, or even a room. In the sentence

we know only that Nomi is inside; without a broader context, we do not know whether she is in her own home or someone else’s.

A dwelling place can also be indicated by the preposition בײַ. If Nomi is בײַ פּערלען, she is at the house where Perl lives. The phrases אין דער הײם/אין שטוב can be paired with the preposition בײַ to indicate whose house one is talking about. For example:

The reflexive pronoun זיך frequently appears in this construction:

Affective Use of the Diminutive: אַ גלאָז טײ vs. אַ גלעזל טײ

What is the difference between אַ גלאָז טײ and אַ גלעזל טײ? The difference is not physical, but emotional; it does not have to do with the size of the גלאָז or גלעזל, but with the attitude of drinker to drink, or of host to guest. The diminutive גלעזל creates a homey feel: אַ גלעזל טײ warms the soul better than אַ גלאָז טײ, even though it is the same drink in the same cup.

More details about the diminutive can be found in 6.4 נאָך פּרטים.

We have already learned a good deal about word order in sentences with an infinitive or a converb (see, for example, נאָך פּרטים in lessons 3.2, 3.4, and 4.1). The rules for word order in the past tense are the same: the participle is in the same place as the infinitive or the converb.

The following table shows the order of sentence units in a declarative sentence without any special emphasis:

Note:

• Certain sentence units are often placed in the “middle position” between the conjugated verb and the infinitive/converb/participle (more details about this to follow).
• The numbers indicate the relative positions of the sentence units; most sentences do not include all eight positions.

Position 1: Almost any sentence unit except the conjugated verb

In a declarative sentence without any particular emphasis, the first sentence unit is usually the subject or an adverb.

Placing a sentence unit that usually comes after the verb in the first position can change the tone or emphasis of the sentence as a whole. Here are some sentences from YiddishPOP movies with various sentence units (other than the subject or an adverb) in the first position – a direct object (first group), a prepositional phrase and a participle (second group):

Position 2: Conjugated Verb

In a typical declarative sentence, the conjugated verb is always the second sentence unit (see ‏2.4 נאָך פּרטים). In the past tense, the conjugated verb is the helping verb האָבן or זײַן.

Position 3: Subject

When the subject is not in the first position, it usually comes right after the conjugated verb.

Position 4: Object Pronoun

An object pronoun is almost always placed between the conjugated verb and the infinitive/converb/participle, usually right after the conjugated verb, or after the subject when the subject is after the conjugated verb.

Note:

• זיך is an object pronoun and is placed in the fourth position:

When the subject comes after the conjugated verb and is not a personal pronoun, the object pronoun can come before it. Both of the following are correct:

When the pronoun is the object of an infinitive in the eighth position (that is, an infinitive that comes after an infinitive, a converb, or a participle), the pronoun can come right before the infinitive, or earlier in the sentence, in the fourth position where the object pronoun usually appears. For example:

On the order of the pronouns when there is more than one, see ‏4.4 נאָך פּרטים.

Position 5: Adverb

Adverbs are often placed before the conjugated verb, in the first position. When the adverb is short, it is also placed quite often between the conjugated verb and the infinitive/converb/participle, after the object pronoun.

Note: the adverb דאָך that we are learning in this lesson is an exception. It often comes before the object pronoun (but less often before זיך):

Position 6: The Negative נישט

נישט comes right before the infinitive/converb/participle:

Note:

• When נישט comes right before the infinitive/converb/participle, it negates the verb. נישט can, however, negate a different sentence unit, and in that case it is placed at the beginning of that sentence unit. In the first two examples below and the last, נישט negates the adverb; in the third, נישט negates the subject:

And from this lesson:

• When a noun in a negative sentence is accompanied by the negative article קײן, it (קײן) is part of the sentence unit with the noun, for example:

Position 7: Infinitive/Converb/Participle

Position 7 is the place of:

• an infinitive that follows a helping verb or modal verb
• a converb with a verb in the present tense or imperative
• a participle in the past tense.

There are many example sentences with position 7 above and below.

Note:

• The invariant part of a verb like ליב האָבן or חתונה האָבן is placed in position 7 in the present tense (and in the imperative), for example:

Position 8: Objects, Prepositional Phrases, Additional Infinitives

The eighth position, after the infinitive/converb/participle, includes various sentence units that did not appear earlier. In the table below are several sentences from YiddishPOP movies with sentence units in the eighth position; note that the sentences have only a few of the elements in the middle position between the conjugated verb and the infinitive/converb/participle.

More About the Eight Positions

The relative order of the words that we described above also applies, for the most part, when:

• There is a question word
• There is no infinitive/converb/participle in the sentence (but see the note below on זיך).

For example:

There are sentences that begin with the conjugated verb, for example in the imperative. In a case like this, we say that the first position is empty, and the relative position of the sentence units continues to apply. For example:

Note about זיך:

When there is no seventh position in the sentence (infinitive/converb/participle) and the subject is in the third position and is not a personal pronoun, זיך comes before the subject. Compare:

Compound Sentences

What is a Compound Sentence?

A compound sentence consists of at least two sentences (clauses), often linked by one or more conjunctions. In this lesson we are learning the conjunction אַז. In YiddishPOP we have already learned the conjunctions און, אָדער, אָבער, װײַל, װען. Question words can also serve as conjunctions as we will explain below.

Since a conjunction connects two sentences, it is not a sentence unit. Each sentence that it connects has its own word order according to the usual rules (see above).

In the table below is an example of how the principles of word order that we described above apply to compound sentences. Here and in the following sections about compound sentences, we show the conjunction in bold; in examples that do not appear in a numbered table, the conjugated verb is italicized.

Sometimes a compound sentence begins with the conjunction. Here is an example from this lesson:

On the word order in sentences like this, see ‏6.1 נאָך פּרטים.

The Conjunction אַז

The conjunction אַז introduces a clause after verbs like זאָגן, ענטפֿערן, װיסן, פֿאַרשטײן. For example:

Indirect Questions: Question Words as Conjunctions

When a question is indirect, the question word usually serves as a conjunction and is not a sentence unit. The question word in a direct question, as we saw above, is a sentence unit.

Indirect Question

Direct Question

Note: When reading or listening to Yiddish, you may encounter – though less often – indirect questions with the word order of direct questions, that is: the question word is a sentence unit. In YiddishPOP, however, we always use the word order in indirect questions where the question word is not a sentence unit.

Expletive עס and Indirect Questions

On expletive עס, see ‏4.1 נאָך פּרטים.

Most indirect questions where the subject is not a personal pronoun can be formed with or without expletive עס; whether or not to use it is a matter of style. For example:

However, when the question word is the subject of the question, the expletive עס must be added so that the verb is the second sentence unit. For example:

Note about Indirect Speech and Indirect Questions

The conjunction אַז with verbs like זאָגן and ענטפֿערן introduces indirect speech. Indirect questions, as we saw above, are introduced with a question word that serves as a conjunction.

It is worth noting that the tense of the verb in indirect speech and indirect questions is the same as in their direct equivalents. For example:

Compare the following two examples:

We understand that at the moment when Nomi said this, she was at home.

We understand that Nomi wasn’t talking about “now”, but about an earlier time when she was at home.

And compare the following two examples with indirect questions:

When Perl asked the question, the meal had not yet been eaten.

Perl asked about a meal that had already been eaten.

Note that in English, the tense of indirect speech/questions is often different from that of the direct speech/questions: